A golf club includes a head, a shaft, and a grip. The golf club head is used to hit a golf ball. The shaft is an elongated and tapered cylindrical section inserted at its narrow end into the golf club head in some permanent manner to transmit the force of the golfer's swing to the head. A grip made of rubber or some other suitable material is slipped over the golf club shaft at its wider end and bonded in some permanent manner to the shaft. The purpose of the golf club grip is to afford the golfer a non-slippery, cushioned, firm, and secure hold over a portion of the shaft.
Since the purpose of the golf club grip is to enable a golfer to have much better control of the golf club, the grip must be properly secured onto the shaft so that the grip does not rotate under the golfer's hand or slip off the shaft during a golf swing while still providing the golfer with a cushioned and comfortable hold on the golf club.
In a first conventional method of installing a grip on a shaft, bonding agents, such as glues or resins, in a liquid or semi-liquid form, are used. The golf club shaft is held firmly in a vise or other device and a liquid or semi-liquid bonding agent, such as a glue or resin, is poured over a portion of the golf club shaft and spread uniformly with a brush or rag. The shaft is then inserted into the grip. Excess bonding agent accumulated at the opening of the grip during insertion of the shaft into the grip is removed. The grip is then stretched and positioned properly on the shaft and the bonding agent is allowed to cure. A comparable method includes dipping the butt end of the shaft into the bonding agent, wiping off excess bonding agent, installing the grip, and permitting the bonding agent to cure. Both of these methods are the least popular techniques for installing a grip because they are messy, time consuming, and not economical. Further, a person installing the grip must wear protective clothing in order to avoid touching the bonding agent which may cause an allergic reaction or irritation and is difficult to remove without the use of solvents, thinning agents, and similar toxic substances.
In another known method of installing a grip, double-sided tape is used as the bonding agent between the shaft and the grip. Double-sided grip tape is a narrow strip of paper, both sides of which have been coated or impregnated with a bonding agent, such as a glue or resin. In order to make the tape convenient and economical to use, a waxed paper is placed on one of the sticky surfaces of the paper to prevent the tape from sticking to itself when rolled. Double-sided grip tape is available in several widths, the most popular being three-quarters inch wide and two inches wide. The three-quarter inch wide tape is particularly suited for a spiral wrap method of installing a grip while the two inch wide tape is more suitable for the vertical wrap method. Both methods are now described.
In the spiral wrap method, a shaft is held in a vise and a sticky side of a relatively narrow roll of grip tape is wound in a spiral pattern around the shaft. The waxed paper is then removed from the tape and a solvent is poured into the opening of the grip and onto the grip tape. The application of the solvent makes the surfaces inside the grip and on the tape both sticky and slippery. The shaft is then inserted into the grip and the grip is cleaned and stretched, and the assembly is set aside for the curing of the solvent and adhesive. Although this spiral wrap method is not as messy as the techniques described above, it is time consuming, increasing costs.
In the vertical wrap method, the most popular method because of its simplicity and speed, the shaft placed in a vise or other holding implement. A strip of relatively wide double-sided tape is cut to length, and the tape is placed on the shaft, length-wise. The tape is wrapped around the shaft and smoothed over its length either before or after the waxed paper coating is removed. Solvent is poured into the opening in the grip and onto the shaft where the tape is present. Then, the shaft is inserted into the grip, excess solvent is removed, the grip is stretched and placed as desired, and the assembly is left for curing of the adhesive and solvent. The most difficult step in this vertical wrap method is the overlapping and smoothing of the tape on the shaft so that the overlapped part of the tape does not leave a ridge that might be tactilely perceptible by a golfer using the golf club. The overlapping operation is usually not difficult for an experienced person. However, that person usually uses his bare hands in order to achieve the appropriate overlapping and smoothing of the tape. This step can be messy and require the person assembling the golf club to clean bonding agent residue from his hands and the equipment once the grip installation is complete. The use of solvents and other cleaning materials may be dangerous and is undesirable.